Methods and systems for exchange of equipment performance data

ABSTRACT

A method for exchange of equipment performance data includes the steps of: obtaining performance data of a communicatively-insulated device; converting the performance data into a scannable code; capturing an image of the scannable code; decoding the scannable code using a communicatively-enabled device to extract an address string encoded in the scannable code, the address string comprising an address of a remote server and the performance data; and initiating, by the communicatively-enabled device, a communications link with the remote server using the address string thereby to provide the performance data to the remote server.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation-in-part of pending U.S.Non-Provisional application Ser. No. 17/504,331, filed Oct. 18, 2021,which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD

The subject disclosure relates generally to methods and systems forexchange of equipment performance data.

BACKGROUND

In today's world, it is common place to provide devices with the abilityto communicate freely over wireless and/or wired networks with otherdevices. That said, there are many instances where it is not possible orundesired for devices to communicate freely in this manner. Thesedevices can be communicatively-insulated for a variety of reasons. Forexample, many legacy devices, which were manufactured without suchcommunications capabilities, are still in existence and remain in use.In some environments, connectivity of devices is limited to reduce therisk of third-party hacking attempts, unwanted access to sensitiveinformation, or other reasons. This may be the result of firewallsand/or other security measures or may simply be the choices of deviceowners. In some environments, connectivity of devices is limited as aresult of geographical location.

As will be appreciated, when devices are communicatively-insulated,monitoring performance and running analytics remotely may presentchallenges. Not surprisingly, improvements in the monitoring andassessment of communicatively-insulated devices are desired.

It is therefore an object to provide novel methods and systems forexchange of equipment performance data.

This background serves only to set a scene to allow a person skilled inthe art to better appreciate the following brief and detaileddescriptions. None of the above discussion should necessarily be takenas an acknowledgment that this discussion is part of the state of theart or is common general knowledge.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

It should be appreciated that this brief description is provided tointroduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are furtherdescribed below in the detailed description. This brief description isnot intended to be used to limit the scope of claimed subject matter.

Accordingly, in one aspect there is provided a method comprising:obtaining performance data of a communicatively-insulated device;converting the performance data into a scannable code; capturing animage of the scannable code; decoding the scannable code using acommunicatively-enabled device to extract an address string encoded inthe scannable code, the address string comprising an address of a remoteserver and the performance data; and initiating, by thecommunicatively-enabled device, a communication link with the remoteserver using the address string thereby to provide the performance datato the remote server.

In one or more embodiments, the method further comprises performing, bythe remote server, analytics on the performance data.

In one or more embodiments, the method further comprises at least oneof: sending historic device performance data and/or analytical resultsto a remote computing device; and sending a link to the historic deviceperformance data and/or analytical results to the remote computingdevice. In one form, the communicatively-enabled device and the remotedevice may be the same device or may be different devices.

In one or more embodiments, the communicatively-insulated device ismedical imaging equipment and wherein obtaining the performance datacomprises scanning a phantom using the medical imaging equipment andgenerating a system status report identifying one or more operationalparameters of the medical imaging equipment.

In one or more embodiments, the communicatively-insulated device ispackaging equipment and wherein obtaining the performance data comprisesscanning a calibration unit using the packaging equipment and generatinga system status report identifying one or more operational parameters ofthe packaging equipment.

In one or more embodiments, the method comprises, prior to theconverting, encoding the performance data. In one form, the encodingcomprises serializing the performance data and transforming theserialized performance data to tamper-proof the performance data. In oneform, transforming the serialized performance data comprises subjectingthe serialized performance data to one of a check sum function orencryption program. In one form, the subjecting comprises subjecting theserialized performance data to the check sum function to generate adigital signature that is appended to the serialized performance data.In one form, the encoding further comprises sanitizing the transformedserialized performance data into an address string format and prependingthe address of the remote server to the sanitized performance datathereby to form the address string.

In one or more embodiments, the scannable code is a matrix code. In oneform, the matrix code is a quick response (QR) code.

In one or more embodiments, the method further comprises, after theconverting, presenting the scannable code on a display console of thecommunicatively-insulated device and/or printing the scannable code on aphysical medium.

In one or more embodiments, the method comprises capturing the image ofthe scannable code with the communicatively-enabled device.

According to another aspect there is provided a method comprising:receiving, by a server, a network connection request from acommunicatively-enabled device, the network connection requestcomprising an address string extracted from an image of a scannablecode, the address string comprising an address of the server andperformance data of a communicatively-insulated device; extracting, bythe server, from network connection request the performance data; andverifying, by the server, the performance data.

In one or more embodiments, the verifying comprises: subjecting theextracted performance data to a check sum function to generate asignature; and comparing the generated signature to a signature withinthe address string to determine whether the signature and generatedsignature match.

In one or more embodiments, the method further comprises compiling, bythe server, the performance data with prior performance data in adatabase to create historic performance data.

In one of more embodiments, the method further comprises runninganalytics on the performance data.

In one or more embodiments, the method further comprises at least oneof: transmitting the historic performance data and/or results of theanalytics to a remote computing device; and transmitting a link to thehistoric performance data and/or results of the analytics to the remotecomputing device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to theaccompany drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a system for exchange of medicalimaging equipment performance data;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method for exchange of medical imagingequipment performance data carried out by the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a system status report comprising performance parameters ofthe medical imaging equipment and a matrix code comprising the systemstatus report presented on a display console of the medical imagingequipment;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of performance data processing performed duringthe method of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is another flowchart of performance data processing performedduring the method of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is exemplary historical data generated by the system of FIG. 1;and

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a system for exchange of packagingequipment performance data.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The foregoing brief description, as well as the following detaileddescription of certain examples will be better understood when read inconjunction with the accompanying drawings. As used herein, a feature,structure, element, component etc. introduced in the singular andpreceded by the word “a” or “an” should be understood as not necessarilyexcluding the plural of the features, structures, elements, componentsetc. Further, references to “one example” or “one embodiment” are notintended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additionalexamples or embodiments that also incorporate the described features,structures, elements, components etc.

Unless explicitly stated to the contrary, examples or embodiments“comprising” or “having” or “including” a feature, structure, element,component etc. or a plurality of features, structures, elements,components etc. having a particular property may include additionalfeatures, structures, elements, components etc. not having thatproperty. Also, it will be appreciated that the terms “comprises”,“has”, “includes” means “including but not limited to” and the terms“comprising”, “having” and “including” have equivalent meanings.

As used herein, the term “and/or” can include any and all combinationsof one or more of the associated listed features, structures, elements,components or other subject matter.

Reference herein to “example” means that one or more feature, structure,element, component, characteristic and/or operational step described inconnection with the example is included in at least one embodimentand/or implementation of the subject matter according to the subjectdisclosure. Thus, the phrases “an example,” “another example,” andsimilar language throughout the subject disclosure may, but do notnecessarily, refer to the same example. Further, the subject mattercharacterizing any one example may, but does not necessarily, includethe subject matter characterizing any other example.

Reference herein to “configured”, “operative”, and “adapted” denoteactual states that fundamentally tie the feature, structure, element,component, or other subject matter to the physical characteristics ofthe feature, structure, element, component or other subject matterpreceding the phrase “configured to”, “operative to”, and “adapted to”.Thus, “configured”, “operative”, and “adapted” means that the feature,structure, element, component or other subject matter is designed and/orintended to perform a given function. As a result, the use of the term“configured”, “operative”, and “adapted” should not be construed to meanthat a given feature, structure, element, component, or other subjectmatter is simply “capable of” performing a given function but that thefeature, structure, element, component, and/or other subject matter isspecifically selected, created, implemented, utilized, and/or designedfor the purpose of performing the function.

Unless otherwise indicated, the terms “first,” “second,” etc. are usedherein merely as labels, and are not intended to impose ordinal,positional, or hierarchical requirements on the items to which theseterms refer. Moreover, reference to a “second” item does not require orpreclude the existence of a lower-numbered item (e.g., a “first” item)and/or a higher-numbered item (e.g., a “third” item).

As used herein, the terms “approximately”, “about”, “substantially”,“generally” etc. represent an amount or condition close to the statedamount or condition that results in the desired function being performedor the desired result being achieved. For example, the terms“approximately”, “about”, “substantially”, “generally” etc. may refer toan amount or condition that is within engineering tolerances to theprecise value or condition specified that would be readily appreciatedby a person skilled in the art.

In general, methods and systems for exchange of equipment performancedata are described herein. The methods and systems are particularlysuited to allow operation of communicatively-insulated equipment to bemonitored and assessed. In this manner, the communicatively-insulatedequipment may be serviced, if required, and its operation calibrateddespite a lack of direct or unimpeded connectivity with the equipmentmanufacturer/supplier or maintenance/service provider.

Communicatively-insulated within the context of the subject applicationrefers to equipment whose communication capabilities involvingperformance or other selected data is inhibited or limited orconstrained intentionally or otherwise. For example, thecommunicatively-insulated equipment may be legacy equipment devoid ofcommunication capabilities. The communicatively-insulated equipment maybe located in a remote geographical location where establishingcommunications links is difficult or impossible. Thecommunicatively-insulated equipment may be located in an environmentwhere firewalls and/or other security measures inhibits or limits theability of the communicatively-insulated equipment to establishcommunication links with external devices. The communicationcapabilities of the communicatively-insulated equipment may beconstrained to inhibit certain data from being displayed or presented orto avoid certain data from having to be downloaded directly from thecommunicatively-insulated equipment by on-site personnel.

In one form, the method comprises obtaining performance data of acommunicatively-insulated device and converting the performance datainto a scannable code. An image of the scannable code is captured andthe scannable code is decoded using a communicatively-enabled device toextract an address string encoded in the scannable code. The addressstring comprises an address of a remote server and the performance data.A communications link with the remote server is initiated by thecommunicatively-enabled device using the address string thereby toprovide the performance data to the remote server. The remote serverextracts the performance data from the address string and verifies theperformance data. Once verified, the performance data is compiled withhistoric performance data and/or analytics are run on the performancedata to assess the operation of the communicatively-insulated device.Feedback can then be provided to the owner/operator of thecommunicatively-insulated device either by transmitting the historicperformance data and/or results of the analytics to the owner/operatorof the device or by transmitting a link to the historic performance dataand/or results of the analytics to the owner/operator of thecommunicatively- insulated device. Further specifics concerning themethods and systems will now be described.

Turning now to FIG. 1, a system for exchange of equipment performancedata is shown and is generally identified by reference character 100. Inthis embodiment, the equipment is medical imaging equipment 102 that iscommunicatively-insulated. The medical imaging equipment 102 may be astandalone device with its own display and processing capabilities.Alternatively, the medical imaging equipment 102 may comprise an imagingunit that communicates via a local or wide area network with one or morecomputing devices that provide display and processing capabilities overwired and/or wireless communication links. For example, the medicalimaging equipment 102 may be a thermoacoustic (TA) imaging system, anultrasound (US) imaging system, a magnetic resonance (MR) imagingsystem, or a computed tomography (CT) imaging system. Of course, themedical imaging equipment 102 may take other forms such as therapyequipment.

As will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, the medical imagingequipment 102 acquires sensitive patient data and therefore is typicallylocated in an environment where connectivity of the medical imagingequipment to external computing devices (e.g. computing devices outsideof its network) is inhibited or limited.

A remote server 104 such as a web server associated with themanufacturer of the medical imaging equipment 102 or an associate oraffiliate of the medical imaging equipment manufacturer is configured toreceive performance data of the medical imaging equipment 102 from acommunicatively-enabled device 106 and process the received performancedata to allow the performance of the medical imaging equipment 102 to bemonitored and assessed. The remote server 104, as is well known to thoseof skill in the art, comprises, for example, one or more processors,system memory (volatile and/or non-volatile memory), other non-removableor removable memory (e.g., a hard disk drive, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM,DVD, flash memory, etc.) and a system bus coupling the various computercomponents to the one or more processors.

In this embodiment, the communicatively-enabled device 106 is a smartmobile or cellular phone, tablet or pad computing device or otherportable computing device that has image capture and Internetcommunication capabilities. Devices of this nature are well known tothose of skill in the art and as such, details of thecommunicatively-enabled device 106 will not be described herein. Thecommunicatively-enabled device 106 is operable to capture an image ofencoded performance data generated by the medical imaging equipment 102and transmit the encoded performance data to the remote server 104 overa communications link such as an Internet connection 108 as will bedescribed.

In the subject embodiment, in order to allow the operation of themedical imaging equipment 102 to be monitored and assessed, the medicalimaging equipment 102 has a diagnostic application installed therein.The diagnostic application can be run in response to operator input orcan be run automatically at programmed intervals. In general, when thediagnostic application is initiated, a performance data exchange methodgenerally identified by reference numeral 200 as shown in FIG. 2 iscarried out. In particular, when the diagnostic application isinitiated, a report comprising performance data of the medical imagingequipment 102 is generated (step 202). The performance data of thereport is then processed to encode and secure the performance data (step204) and the processed performance data is appended to a uniformresource locator (URL) (i.e., web address) of the remote server 104(step 206). The URL that includes the performance data is then convertedinto a scannable matrix code such as a quick response (QR) code andpresented by displaying the URL on a display console, screen, monitor orthe like of the medical imaging equipment 102 and/or by printing the URLon a physical medium (step 208). The presented matrix code can then beimaged by the communicatively-enabled device 106 (step 210).

Once imaged, the communicatively-enabled device 106 can be conditionedto process and decode the matrix code to extract the URL and then usethe URL to establish an Internet connection with the remote server 104(step 212). The remote server 104 in response to the establishedInternet connection processes the URL to extract the performance data ofthe medical imaging equipment 102 (step 214). The performance data isthen stored by the remote server 104 in an internal database andevaluated thereby to allow the operation of the medical imagingequipment 102 to be monitored and assessed (step 216). Feedbackconcerning the operation of the medical imaging equipment 102 can thenbe provided to the owner/operator of the medical imaging equipment 102allowing the medical imaging equipment to be re-calibrated if required(step 218).

In this embodiment, when the diagnostic application is initialized atstep 202, the medical imaging equipment 102 is conditioned to scan orimage a known performance target such as a phantom 110 and/or acquiredata from on-board sensors of the medical imaging equipment 102. Oncethe known performance target has been scanned or imaged and/or on-boardsensor data acquired, performance data in the form of a system statusreport is auto-generated by the medical imaging equipment 102 andpresented on the display console of the medical imaging equipment 102 asshown in FIG. 3. In this example, the system status report identifies aplurality of performance parameters 300 of the medical imaging equipment102 such as the average voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR), the averageforward power, the average signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), the SNR standarddeviation, and the SNR of the medical imaging equipment 102. Those ofskill in the art will however appreciate that the system status reportmay identify fewer or more performance parameters of the medical imagingequipment 102. Following generation of the system status report, asdescribed above, the system status report is then processed at step 204and converted to the URL at step 206. The URL is then converted to thematrix code 302 and presented on the display console of the medicalimaging equipment 102 and/or printed on the physical medium. Those ofskill in the art will also appreciate that the system status report neednot be presented on the display console of the medical imaging equipment102. Once generated, the system status report may be converted directlyto the URL and then to the matrix code 302 so that only the matrix codeis presented on the display console of the medical imaging equipment102.

Turning now to FIG. 4, the steps performed during processing of theperformance data at step 204 of FIG.2 are illustrated. As can be seen,the performance data is initially serialized to convert the performancedata into a binary byte string (step 402). In this embodiment, Googleprotocol buffers are employed to convert the performance data into thebinary byte string. Once serialized, the binary byte string ofperformance data is transformed to secure the binary byte string therebyto tamper-proof the performance data (step 404). This ensures theintegrity of the performance data. In this embodiment, the serializedbinary byte string of performance data is digitally signed by subjectingthe binary byte string to a check sum function such as a SHA1 hashfunction to generate a symmetric hash-based authentication code (HMAC)typically 160 bits in length. The HMAC is then prepended as a header tothe binary byte string. Those of skill in the art will howeverappreciate that alternative methods of transforming the serializedbinary byte string of performance data may be employed. For example, theserialized binary byte string of performance data may be transformedusing x509 public key encryption, pretty good privacy (PGP) encryption,saltpack, etc.

Following the digital signing of the serialized binary byte string ofperformance data, the digitally signed binary byte stream, whichcomprises the HMAC header and serialized binary byte string, issanitized to facilitate transmission over the Internet connection 108(step 406). In this embodiment during sanitization, the digitally signedbinary byte stream is converted to a base64 representation, which is URLsafe.

At step 206, an URL identifying the remote server 14 and one or moreserver route paths is then prepended to the base64 representation toyield an address string. In this embodiment, the resulting addressstring is a HTTP/1 GET-style URL of the form for example,https://webservername/webserverroutepath(s)/base64-encoded-byte-string.At step 208, the URL is then converted into the QR code 302 using astandard QR-code library and the QR code is presented on the displayconsole of the medical imaging equipment 102 and/or printed on thephysical medium.

Once presented on the display console of the medical imaging equipment102 and/or printed on the physical medium, an image of the QR code 302can be captured via the communicatively-enabled device 106. When animage of the QR code is captured by the communicatively-enabled device106, the QR code is decoded the communicatively-enabled device 106resulting in the HTTP/1 GET-style URL being displayed within a webbrowser on the display screen on the communicatively-enabled device 106.When the user of the communicatively-enabled device 106 selects thedisplayed HTTP/1 GET-style URL, the communicatively-enabled device 106transmits a HTTP GET request that is delivered over the Internetconnection 108 to the remote server 104 identified in the URL.

Upon receipt of the HTTP GET request, the remote server 104 routes theHTTP GET request according to the server route path(s) identified in theURL and then processes the URL at step 214. FIG. 5 shows the stepsperformed during processing of the URL at step 214. In particular,during step 214 the remote server 104 extracts the trailing portion ofthe URL (i.e. the base64 representation of the digitally signed binarybyte string) and interprets it as a base64-encoded payload (step 502).The remote server 104 then converts the base64-encoded payload back to adigitally signed binary byte string (step 504). The digitally signedbinary byte string is then split by the remote server 104 into the HMACheader and the trailing payload (step 506). The remote server 104 thensubjects the trailing payload to the same SHA1 hash function to generateanother HMAC signature (step 508) and compares the HMAC signature of thetrailing payload with the HMAC header (step 510). If the HMAC signatureof the trailing payload matches the HMAC header, the remote server 104determines that the trailing payload comprises valid performance data.If the HMAC signature of the trailing payload does not match the HMACheader, the remote server 104 ignores the trailing payload and generatesan error message indicating that there is an error in the performancedata.

If the trailing payload is determined to comprise valid performancedata, the remote server 104 deserializes the trailing payload usingGoogle protocol buffers for example to reconstruct the performancereport (step 512). The remote server 104 then performs a check todetermine if the performance report already exists in the internaldatabase. If the performance report already exists in the internaldatabase, the remote server 104 ignores the performance report andgenerates an error message indicating that the performance report is aduplicate.

Following the above at step 216, if the performance report does notexist in the internal database, the remote server 104 adds theperformance report to the internal database and generates an acceptedmessage. Once the performance report has been added to the internaldatabase, analytics can be run on the performance data, for example tocompare the performance report with past performance reports, operationstandards/norms etc., to determine the operational health of the medicalimaging equipment 102. The results of the analytics can then be used toupdate a dashboard. The dashboard or a link to the dashboard can then betransmitted to the owner/operator of the medical imaging equipment 102over an Internet connection 108 (step 218) thereby to provide feedbackto the owner/operator of the medical imaging equipment. During thisstep, the dashboard or link transmitted to the owner/operator of themedical imaging equipment 102 may comprise calibration data to inputinto the medical imaging equipment 102 to re-calibrate the same. Thecalibration data may be provided in a form that facilitates input intothe medical imaging input 102 and may take the form of a scannable code.

For example, FIG. 6 shows exemplary historical data of the medicalimaging equipment 102 that is accessible to the owner/operator of themedical imaging equipment. In particular, FIG. 6 shows systemsignal-to-noise (SNR) ratio results, derived from obtaining measurementsfor a quality assurance phantom, over a span of 9 months. For normaloperation, the specified signal-to-noise for the medical imagingequipment is 20, or higher. The last measurement in April 2018 indicatesthat the medical imaging equipment is out of specification and should beserviced.

As will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, embodying theperformance data of the medical imaging equipment 102 within a scannablecode can be advantageous. For example, during servicing, presenting theperformance data in this manner avoids sensitive performance data frombeing displayed thereby keeping diagnostic outputs of the medicalimaging equipment 102 opaque to customers. Also, due to the sensitivenature of data acquired by the medical imaging equipment, servicepersonnel may not be permitted to connect devices such as a laptop, jumpdrive etc. to the medical imaging equipment 102 to access theperformance data. In such instances, embodying the performance datawithin the scannable code provides the service personnel access to theperformance data and avoids service personnel from having to recorddisplayed diagnostic outputs by hand, a series of images or video.Furthermore, embodying the performance data within the scannable codeallows access to the performance data while avoiding the network andsecurity policies of the environment within which the medical imagingequipment 102 is located. In addition, embodying the performance datawithin the scannable code allows the performance data to be readilytransmitted for analysis reducing the need for on-site preventivemaintenance visits.

In the systems and methods described above, the communicatively-enableddevice 106 is described as capturing the image of the matrix code,decoding the matrix code to extract the URL of the remote server 104,and then establishing an Internet connection with the remote server.Those of skill in the art will appreciate that these steps may beperformed in proximity to the medical imaging equipment 106 and inreal-time after the image of the matrix code has been acquired.Alternatively, the communicatively-enabled device may be conditioned toestablish the Internet connection with the remote server 104 well afterthe image of the matrix code has been captured, as may be required, ifno Internet connection 108 is readily available at the time of imagecapture.

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the image of the matrixcode does not need to be acquired by the communicatively-enabled device106. Instead, an imaging device 106 such as a conventional camera may beused to capture the image of the matrix code. The captured image canthen be re-imaged or scanned off-site by the communicatively-enableddevice 106 and processed as described above to allow the performancedata to be uploaded to the remote server 104.

While specific reference is made to medical imaging equipment, those ofskill in the art will appreciate that the equipment may take otherforms. The subject methods are applicable to basically anycommunicatively-insulated equipment where it is desired to monitor andassess its performance.

For example, turning now to FIG. 7, a system for exchange of packagingequipment performance data is shown and is generally identified byreference numeral 600. The system 600 is similar to system 100illustrated in FIG. 1 and comprises communicatively-insulated packagingequipment 602 and a calibration unit 612. Similar to the previousembodiment, the system 600 also comprises a remote server 104 associatedwith the manufacturer of the packaging equipment 602 or an associate oraffiliate of the packaging equipment manufacturer that is configured toreceive performance data of the packaging equipment 602 from acommunicatively-enabled device 606 and process the received performancedata to allow the performance of the packaging equipment 602 to bemonitored and assessed and calibration data returned to theowner/operator of the packaging equipment 602 thereby to allow thepackaging equipment to be re-calibrated.

In this embodiment, when it is determined that the packaging equipment602 has gone out of calibration or at any desired interval, a packagingphantom 610 is provided to the owner/operator of the packaging equipment602 by the packaging equipment manufacturer. The packaging phantom 610in this embodiment is a package to be run through the packagingequipment 602 to allow the packaging equipment 602 to perform its filland seal operations. The packaging phantom 610 has markings printed orotherwise provided thereon that are scanned by the calibration unit 612after the packaging operation has been performed on the packagingphantom 610. The calibration unit 612 in turn generates engineeringcodes representing the calibration state of the packaging equipment 602and converts the engineering codes into a matrix code such as a QR codethat can be scanned by the communicatively-enabled device 106 andprocessed in a manner similar to the previous embodiment thereby toallow the calibration state of the packaging equipment 602 to beassessed and re-calibration data provided back to the owner/operator ofthe packaging equipment 602, if required.

In one embodiment, calibration unit 612 and packaging equipment 602 arecombined into the same sub-system, with or without the same housing.

As will be appreciated, the subject systems and methods allowperformance data of communicatively-insulated equipment to be uploadedsecurely to a remote server without requiring user authenticationthrough image capture of a matrix code allowing the performance of theequipment to be monitored and analyzed. The historical performance ofthe equipment and/or analytical results are made available to theowner/operator of the equipment allowing the owner/operator tore-calibrate the equipment if required.

Although embodiments have been described, those of skill in the art willappreciate that variations and modifications may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: obtaining performance dataof a communicatively-insulated device; encoding the performance data,wherein the encoding comprises serializing the performance data andtransforming the serialized performance data to tamper-proof theperformance data, further wherein transforming the serializedperformance data comprises subjecting the serialized performance data toone of a check sum function or encryption program; converting theperformance data into a scannable code; capturing an image of thescannable code; decoding the scannable code using acommunicatively-enabled device to extract an address string encoded inthe scannable code, the address string comprising an address of a remoteserver and the performance data; and initiating, by thecommunicatively-enabled device, a communications link with the remoteserver using the address string thereby to provide the performance datato the remote server.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the subjectingcomprises subjecting the serialized performance data to the check sumfunction to generate a digital signature that is appended to theserialized performance data.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein theencoding further comprises sanitizing the transformed serializedperformance data into an address string format and prepending theaddress of the remote server to the sanitized performance data therebyto form the address string.
 4. A method comprising: receiving, by aserver, a network connection request from a communicatively-enableddevice, the network connection request comprising an address stringextracted from an image of a scannable code, the address stringcomprising an address of the server and performance data of acommunicatively-insulated device; extracting, by the server, fromnetwork connection request the performance data; and verifying, by theserver, the performance data, wherein the verifying comprises:subjecting the extracted performance data to a check sum function togenerate a signature; and comparing the generated signature to asignature within the address string to determine whether the signatureand generated signature match.
 5. The method of claim 4, furthercomprising: compiling, by the server, the performance data with priorperformance data in a database to create historic performance data. 6.The method of claim 5, further comprising: running analytics on theperformance data.
 7. The method of claim 6, further comprising at leastone of: transmitting the historic performance data and/or results of theanalytics to a remote computing device; and transmitting a link to thehistoric performance data and/or results of the analytics to the remotecomputing device.